


whatever here that's left of me is yours

by orphan_account



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Childhood Friends, F/M, Falling In Love, First Love, Friends to Lovers, Idiots in Love, Love Confessions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-17 12:01:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29592501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: ”I’m in love with you,” he says, and she stops in her tracks.“I’m in love with you, Betty,” he repeats, and she turns around.He has loved her for so long, but she has always been out of reach. He has made a few altering decisions in his life, and not being honest with her at the night of freshman year after the homecoming dance was one of his biggest regrets.
Relationships: Archie Andrews & Betty Cooper, Archie Andrews/Betty Cooper
Comments: 1
Kudos: 39





	whatever here that's left of me is yours

**Author's Note:**

> titles taken from hozier's as it was, which i feel fits perfectly into the story i'm trying to tell. hopefully it makes a little sense!
> 
> this chapter is from archie's point of view of key moments in betty & archie's relationship, next will be betty's point of view, and the final chapter will be the conclusion !
> 
> hope you like it, i worked really hard on it and can't wait to write the next part and share it with you ! ( this is also the longest chapter or fanfic i have ever written so enjoy ! )

”I’m in love with you,” he says, and she stops in her tracks.

“I’m in love with you, Betty,” he repeats, and she turns around.

He has loved her for so long, but she has always been out of reach. He has made a few altering decisions in his life, and not being honest with her at the night of freshman year after the homecoming dance was one of his biggest regrets.

“I can’t give you the answer you want,” he had said, and they had changed forever. But he only said it so they wouldn’t change, he only said it to make them stay the same.

He buries himself in what he thinks he deserves because he knows he does not deserve her. He knows he will never be good enough for her. And maybe that is why he is so taken with Veronica.

She is a girl with her own demons, a girl he can’t corrupt, a girl he might deserve after all.

But a part of it changes when Jughead wraps his arm around his best friend, and he is taken aback.

Not only by his friends actions, but by how he feels. And he hates it. He hates that he loves her, like she loves, or used to love, him. And he doesn’t want everything to change. But it already has, and not in the way he wanted it to.

He watches Betty reach for Jughead’s face, and he immediately thinks back to that night on the football field. Where she had seen his eye and brushed her fingers against this bruises ever so softly. The only thing he could do was to stare at her, almost in disbelief that she was truly there, and she was really reaching for him. It was in that moment he understood what people mean that time will freeze for the right people. It felt as though he had been gazing into her eyes for a million years, and how it was not nearly enough. But it was gone all too soon when his teammates rushed him away. He kept his eyes fixated on her all the while that they did.

He looks over at Betty as she hugs Jughead, smiling in the way that makes his heart warm, and his stomach flutter. Veronica is standing in front of him, and he really, really likes her. Not in the way he likes Betty, but maybe he could.

“You were staring...” is all he hears at first. “Like you liked Betty,” Veronica. “I do,” he slips, and he needs to cover it up. “I always have, as a friend.”

“Speaking of the truth...” Veronica says and Archie’s brain short circuits, he shakes his head rapidly and he knows Betty needs to hear it from him. “We’ve kissed a couple of times,” he says, looking at her. “If you want to be together, I’m happy for you,” she ends with, and Archie’s heart does that thing again. “Thanks, Betty,” is all he can say.

He is alone with her, and his heart is betraying him again, and so is his stomach. Betty is looking at him and it’s sending him places. Maybe he can be honest with her this time before everything changes again. “But a little part of me always thought,” he starts, but is interrupted by Betty. He sighs, and smiles. But his heart? It is still crushed.

He is helping her with the black hood, and it’s tearing her down little by little. He can see it in the way she does her hair, how her ponytails become a bit messier, a little lower every day, until she doesn’t even put her hair in a ponytail anymore. He’s worried about her but knows better than to push right now. It will only make things worse.

When she asks him to talk to Jughead for her, that they need to stay away from each other, a part of him is crushed for her, but a larger part of his heart is wishing for her to see him this time, that he’s there, that he always has been.

He walks into his room and pulls off the fabric of his shirt that is sticking to his body. He’s glancing out his bedroom window and sees Betty on the other side, removing her makeup. He walks forward, his heart pounding in his chest. Veronica had just broken up with him, and yet he wasn’t even devastated. All he could think of was the girl in the window, and how she made him feel. She moves away from his sight, quickly glancing his way, but he stands still, watching, looking, hoping. She walks back carefully, looking so vulnerable and beautiful. There is a spark starting inside of him, something he has never felt before in his life. Only now, looking at her, the sparks move through his body, and that’s when he realizes it.

He is in love with her.

They’re in front of Cheryl Blossom’s house when it happens. “Arch...” she whispers, and leans in, and so does he. They kiss, and he stops breathing. They kiss and everything changes again. They kiss and he wants to stay in this moment forever. She pulls out and looks at him with frightened eyes, like she has just made a mistake. But if it was a mistake, then why did the world fade away and nothing else mattered to him?

They never talk about it, what it might have meant. Veronica apologizes, and they’re back together, and Betty and Jughead are back together. Maybe it’s better this way, he lies to himself.

He stays away from her after that, after that night in the window, after the kiss, he has to stay away. But her eyes find his during assembly and a large smile crosses his features, and on hers as well. And that is when he knows he can’t stay away, not from her.

Veronica, Jughead and Betty all come up with a plan to get him out of jail. A plan that he realizes is successful when he looks into Betty’s eyes, and how relieved she is to see him. He knows then that he is really out, it worked, and he’s with her for just a moment.

Life takes its toll; his father passes away and everything changes again. He’s so tired of things changing. He wishes he could just go back to that night, and make the right decision, and maybe everything would be different. But instead, everything was wrong. They confirm that it’s his dad and Archie closes his curtains that night and decides to move on for good. He has Veronica, and she is all he needs. But it is a lie.

They need to pull it off, but he knows he can do it. It needs to look real so he will just be real, and no one will ever know. Not Veronica, not Jughead, not even Betty. He takes a hold of her hand across the table at Pop’s and looks into her eyes, and it’s real. For the first time in a long time, he is being real.

He hesitates when they come up with the fake dating plan, mostly because he doesn’t know if he can handle kissing Betty again. He had done it once and it had been life changing. Two years later and he is still worried that there are more feelings beneath the surface, and that what he is feeling for her right now does not even begin to describe it. But it’s not like he can say no, that would awaken suspicions in Veronica, and maybe even Betty, or Jughead. So, they end up in the music room, Betty pulling him into a hug, and he closes his eyes for just a second. She acts so well, he thinks, when all he is doing is acting on his feelings without anyone knowing.

“I’m here for you, Betty, I always have been,” he says, wearing his heart on his sleeve.

“Yeah, you have, haven’t you,” she responds, and the tone of her voice makes him believe her, even though he knows it’s all an act.

He looks into her eyes before she leans in, and they kiss for the second time. It’s supposed to be only one, long, non-meaningless kiss, but she pulls away slightly, and then she kisses him one more time, and he knows deep down that something has changed again.

He lies to Veronica that night when she asks him if the kiss meant anything to him. After everything they had been through, he couldn’t hurt her. But he also knew he didn’t feel the same way about her that he used to do, he wanted something else, he wanted someone else. And for the first time, he was truly willing to admit it to himself.

That who he wanted was Betty.

He frowns at the letters he has typed into the message box on his phone, knowing that they mean something more, he deletes the last part of the message. He would be happy to kiss her anytime, but she is with Jughead, and he’s still with Veronica.

When she replies with a kissy face and a ‘Night,’ he smiles as his stomach flutters, and he feels warm inside, looking at the screen for a moment, he types the same thing in response and holds his phone close to his chest, as if it would change anything.

But it’s when they sing together he’s reminded of why he’s in love with her. It’s about who she is, it is about who she has always been. It’s about how she looks at him, doe-eyed and innocent, it’s just that look that can make his heart stop. She’s staring at his lips and gazing into his eyes and he knows. He pushes his guitar aside and reaches for her. His grip is tender at first but tightens when she reaches to wrap her arm around his shoulder.

They kiss for a while, a long while. Until their lips are soar and until they’re out of breath. They pull away only because they need air to survive. He looks at her, and she looks at him. A few deep breaths, and then they’re kissing again, and again, and over again.

They leave it there, even though he’s craving more. He is pretty sure she is too because of the way she hums and moans into the kisses, how she is saying his name.

But they can’t, not like this.

And everything changes, again.

But this time, he hopes it’s for the better.

They meet in the bunker, there’s a sadness that he can’t quite place, but a yearning even deeper. He just knows that it has been her all along, and that he feels stupid for thinking he could be with someone else. But he can’t quite say the words. The only words able to form from his throat are, “but this is nice, right?” But there is so much more he wants to tell her.

He walks into the blue and gold and offers his help with the yearbook, but that’s not why he’s there, and Betty knows it as well as he does. “I can’t stop thinking about you, Betty, I’ve tried, but it’s impossible,” he says, and he’s almost positive she is shooting him down after that, until she’s saying that she can’t stop thinking about him either.

He needs some way to tell her how he feels, and for the first time in years, he feels inspiration hit him like a ton of bricks. He writes a song for her, putting all of his emotions, all of his feelings into the melody and the lyrics, and each strum of his guitar.

They meet later that week, and as he plays her the song, he notices how upset she has become, and a part of him regrets ever thinking of the idea. She tells him that she can’t do this, that she loves Jughead, and that he loves Veronica. And his heart breaks into a million pieces all at once.

They agree not to tell anyone, but after Veronica finds the song and sings it at le bonne nuit for him, with Betty across from him at the table, he feels his heart shatter again, and he had just begun picking up the pieces.

It’s when Veronica mentions she’ll stay in Riverdale for him that he knows that he can’t lie to her anymore. He can’t hold her back, he loves her too much. Not in the way he loves Betty, but he still loves her. He tells her about the song, and the kiss, and he is genuinely sorry that he hurt her, but a part of him is not sorry that it happened.

They agree to keep a front to not blow up the last couple of weeks of school, and that they will go their separate ways after that. And he is happy for her, it’s the future that she deserves, it’s the life that she deserves.

However, seeing Betty and Jughead together makes his heart ache, especially when Betty asks him what’s wrong. He doesn’t mean to snap. It is just too much at this point. Betty makes a face, and he knows she’s hurt, but just leaves instead.

He tells his friends he’s joining the army, and Betty is the only one of them to support him. Even after everything, at least that hasn’t changed, and he’s glad.

At the bus stop, he tries to tell him, but Jughead tells him that he knows about the kiss, and that he isn’t mad. He doesn’t quite know how to react, but he’s simply happy that he hasn’t lost one of his best friends.

They say goodbye with a tight hug as he aches for her, and a promise to meet in a year. He wants to, he really wants to, but he already knows he’s not going to keep his own promise.

And that is how he leaves them.

Unresolved.


End file.
